Show Don't Tell: Luke 3:21-38

Instead of saying "Jesus was baptized and Luke traced his genealogy," watch heaven open during prayer. When all the people are being baptized, Jesus is baptized too. And as he is praying, heaven opens and the Holy Spirit descends on him in bodily form like a dove. A voice comes from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Luke emphasizes: Jesus was praying. In prayer, heaven responds. Jesus is about thirty years old when he begins his ministry. Then the genealogy—but Luke runs it backward, not forward like Matthew. From Jesus through Joseph to David to Abraham, then farther back: to Isaac, to Noah, to Seth, to Adam, "the son of God." Matthew traces Jesus to Abraham, father of Israel. Luke traces Jesus to Adam, father of humanity. The beloved Son is connected to all humanity, back to the first son of God. Universal scope, not just Jewish lineage.